British B-Movies:Truly,Madly,Cheaply! (BBC 4 Documentary 2008)

Рет қаралды 68,536

7 жыл бұрын

Film historian Matthew Sweet presents a documentary reappraising over half a century of British B movies, from John Mills on the wrong end of a whipping in The Lash through to the giant gorilla Konga running amok in Croydon. Sweet argues that the cheapness of these films, unlike the A film, ensured they often portrayed Britain as it really was, even when (as in the case of 1970s sex movies) that wasn't necessarily a nice place to be. John Mortimer and Michael Winner are among the interviewees.
First Broadcast August 26th 2008

Пікірлер: 68

@narryssa 2 жыл бұрын

thank you so much for this rare documentation of real British authentic history of the latest decades !

@FRANKTHRING1 6 жыл бұрын

Brilliant ! A lovely trip down memory lane. It was Patricia Laffan who brought me here - I have always loved her wicked empress in Quo Vadis - and great to see her interviewed in person. But this is a fun and intelligent documentary about the British Bs, some very good, most of them awful.

@Stringbean421 5 жыл бұрын

Pure British Classics, unlike a lot of shit and drivel that passes for movies these days!

@matthewlawrenson3628 Жыл бұрын

37:24 "This is Sandra Dorne. And those were her pumps." As every writer knows - sometimes pictures write themselves.

@jeffcher10 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for this fabulous documentary

@bumpusjones.1978 3 жыл бұрын

“The Earth dies screaming “ is not good it’s great. Without a doubt if this is a b movie it’s the best of all time.

@LALakersNornIron 3 жыл бұрын

"Take an Easy Ride" is a very disturbing watch when you think of all the awful murders of young women who were hitch hikers in the 1970s in the UK.

@mondomacabromajor5731 6 жыл бұрын

A Brilliant doco on British Bmovies ....

@mnbv990 8 ай бұрын

I've seen a lot of these films in recent years on the excellent Talking Pictures TV, and most of them are better than you'd expect

@tomkent4656 3 ай бұрын

They seem to have picked the worst for this documentary!

@Kurzula5150 3 жыл бұрын

Matthew Sweet is perfect for this. He's like Howard Goodall but cheaper.

@topologyrob 2 жыл бұрын

What a brilliant doco

@kakilino 3 жыл бұрын

Patricia Laffan looked fabulous!

@antoniod 6 жыл бұрын

I didn't know that Big Ben overlooked the Croydon High Street.

@bumpusjones.1978 3 жыл бұрын

This was great, love this kind of stuff.

@richardupton3323 Ай бұрын

thanks i will watch this tonight.

@bronte6364 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent. Thank you. 👍💕

@RobotGooseStudios 4 жыл бұрын

Glad Gorgo or Day of the Triffids (1962) weren't in this, they're genuinely really good films

@MrDavey2010 3 жыл бұрын

Fantastic nostalgia.

@ralang999 5 жыл бұрын

Brilliant! Love it

@linuxtuxfriend9155 Жыл бұрын

34:17 - "Private Information" has a lot of what's going on in Flint MI in it.

@redstrat1234 5 жыл бұрын

Fascinating documentary

@leebritnell2405 4 жыл бұрын

I think the robots in The Earth Dies Screaming influenced the look of the patrol in Dr.Who-The Android Invasion.

@leebritnell2405 2 жыл бұрын

@Syd McCreath i will if you do!

@susanhepburn6040 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much.

@sficlassic 6 жыл бұрын

I would like to say that the roots of Bennie Hill and Monty Python came from some of these films. If i'm wrong please forgive me.

@wyllgreenewood1931 5 жыл бұрын

The roots of Python and Benny Hill can be seen in the cameo footage of the Goons, complete with Micheal Bentine. Of course there are other influences but with Milligan, Seacomb and Sellars, how can you not be positively influenced?

@L117music 2 жыл бұрын

someone should make a channel on here full of these films.

@showbizismylife 4 жыл бұрын

I love this documentary - does anyone know of anything similar available on youtube?

@tedbishop567 4 жыл бұрын

It's not about British films, but there's a really good documentary about 1950's sci-fi films called Watch the Skies:Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us. It's available on Ytube.

@bullettube9863 6 жыл бұрын

I never realized how much Monty Python owed to these "B" movies! What I thought was original was actually them coping those who had gone before. Guys pretending to be English matrons, twits, government bureaucrats and normal people turning into monsters were all parodies of movies they had seen as youngsters and were probably still seeing at theaters in the 1960s and 1970s.

@gregorywatkins3930 5 жыл бұрын

I agree that monty python were very influenced by some of these films mother o reily particulary great documantary i always love these type of movies ealing studios and hammer films were favs of mine

@normanby100 6 жыл бұрын

Was Michael Shepley really Harry Enfield in disguise?

@neonatalpenguin 3 жыл бұрын

That's exactly what I thought.

@ferociousgumby 3 жыл бұрын

I like how he says "SIN-A-mawwwww."

@MatthewJohnCrittenden 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the upload, really enjoyed that. There is a documentary about Australian B movies, Not Quite Hollywood, that might appeal. Completely different era (and culture) but worth a watch if you like the whole movies made on a shoestring thing.

@MrDazw72 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks, I have seen it, in fact I got quite obsessed with Aussie genre movies and tracked quite a few down on line

@karendegenerous8044 2 жыл бұрын

THAT was BRILLIANT!

@oh_poor_damaged_mepatrick1529 8 ай бұрын

Bless the makers of psychomania... and the wicker man...two of the finest British films ever made

@georgedarlow751 5 жыл бұрын

i would love a copy of this on dvd could someone do me a copy of this please.

@MrDazw72 5 жыл бұрын

I could make a dvd copy for you, get in touch with details dazw499@hotmail.com

@backedup39 5 жыл бұрын

A very interesting documentary. Cover Girl Killer looks like a good watch and seems very literate despite the rather seemingly sleazy storyline. Shame that exploitation master and all around sleaze bag Dick Randall wasn't mentioned though.

@showbizismylife 4 жыл бұрын

I don't know of Dick Randall - please elaborate, good Sir Knight.

@ayrshireman1314 2 жыл бұрын

It is a good film, and Harry H Corbett, despite the odd glasses he wears in it, is genuinely menacing.

@jrn-mariustyrsett6058 2 жыл бұрын

Nothing about Hammer?!? Strange

@Tim.Weaver 2 жыл бұрын

Hammer Films do get a brief mention for 2 minutes starting at 1:11:18

@antoniod 6 жыл бұрын

The landscapes that look bland to the commentator look beautiful to this Yank!

@tomkent4656 3 жыл бұрын

E J Fancey and Michael Winner were made for each other!

@carfonju1018 4 жыл бұрын

OBRA MAESTRA

@jeanesingsjazz 3 жыл бұрын

Blow & Benzadrine

@AidanTheLoverBoyOhDwyer 6 жыл бұрын

Edie Levee?

@j.b.9260 3 жыл бұрын

Eady levy.

@AidanTheLoverBoyOhDwyer 6 жыл бұрын

81:54 - - - - > 82:23 Kristen Stewart

@jeanlongsden1696 2 жыл бұрын

so Mrs Riley was played by a man and the actress playing his daughter was his real life wife. Mrs Brown is played by a man and his daughter in the show is played by his real life wife. seems like history does repeat it's self after all.

@AidanTheLoverBoyOhDwyer 6 жыл бұрын

The GiGis?

@backedup39 5 жыл бұрын

Gee-gees: Horses

@AidanTheLoverBoyOhDwyer 6 жыл бұрын

Kristen Stewart 1:21:54 - - - - > 1:22:23

@ltlocus 2 жыл бұрын

This is for brits.

@zetetick395 3 жыл бұрын

Who's this Howard Goodall knockoff?

@Moneytane1976 6 жыл бұрын

This was hilarious, I thought American B movies (Discosploitation, Blaxploitation, Grindhouse) were bad, but this is new level rubbish, and every 70s movie had a hilariously bad soundtrack with wrong sounding porn/disco music.

@ThreadBomb 2 жыл бұрын

If your definition of American B movies consists entirely of stuff from the 70s, you probably think that anything in black-and-white must be bad.